Charlton Lyons

Charlton "Big Papa" Lyons (3 September 1894-8 August 1873) was the State Chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana from 1964 to 1968, succeeding LeRoy Smallenberger and preceding Charles deGravelles.

Biography
Charlton Lyons was born in Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana in 1894 to a middle-class family, and he worked as a water boy for a railroad gang as a teenager before becoming a lawyer in 1916. Lyons worked as a teacher before joining the US Army near the end of World War I in 1918, and he would become a successful lawyer and President of the Independent Petroleum Association of America on his return home. As a member of the Southern Democrats, he supported conservative Republican Party president Dwight D. Eisenhower due to his opposition to the northern Democrats' liberal realignment. In 1964, he ran for Governor of Louisiana as a strong segregationist, running against John McKeithen in the most hotly-contested gubernatorial campaign since Reconstruction. Lyons was supported by Ronald Reagan, and Lyons was a staunch supporter of the segregationist Republican Party presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. He lost the election, but his 37.5% of the popular vote helped to pave the way for Goldwater's victory in the state during the presidential election. From 1964 to 1968, he would chair the Republican Party of Louisiana, and he died in Shreveport in 1973 at the age of 78.